Officials plan to check deer for disease

As deer hunters take to the Pennsylvania wilderness for the two-week-long rifle season, state officials are gearing up to sample deer harvested in parts of York and Adams counties for chronic wasting disease.

A 600-square-mile Disease Management Area was set up in parts of both counties after two deer at an Adams County farm tested positive for CWD. One of the deer was once at a Dover Township deer farm.

The monitoring boundary bisects York County, with most areas north of Routes 116, 30, and 462 included. Deer killed in areas south of the boundary don't have to be checked.

"We will be attempting to collect 3,000 samples from hunter-killed deer throughout the state," said Carl Roe, executive director of the state Game Commission.

In addition to hunter-killed deer within the management area, road-killed deer and deer culled from the Gettysburg National Battlefield will be tested, Roe said.

Hunters who harvest a deer within the area are required to bring harvest to a mandatory check station for samples to be collected for testing.

A state-run check station will be set up at the commission's maintenance building on State Game Land 249 at 1070 Lake Meade Road in Adams County.

Checking stations: Seven deer processors that will participate as direct cooperators for the Game Commission are: